


In this form in which I am not nor are you

by Aurora Cee (SC182)



Category: Fast & Furious 7 (2014), Fast and the Furious Series
Genre: Coda, Friendship/Love, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Tissue Warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-25 05:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3798676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SC182/pseuds/Aurora%20Cee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dom catches up with Brian at the end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In this form in which I am not nor are you

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the end of Furious 7. 
> 
> Title from Pablo Neruda's "One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII".
> 
>  
> 
> _I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,_  
>  I love you directly without problems or pride:  
> I love you like this because I don’t know any other way to love,  
> except in this form in which I am not nor are you,  
> so close that your hand upon my chest is mine,  
> so close that your eyes close with my dreams.
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters herein. The main characters as well as any supporting characters are the property of their creators and Universal Pictures. Any deviation from the originals, however, is mine.
> 
> A/N: Tissue warning

The moment the white tail of the Nissan disappeared from the rearview mirror, Dom knew he had just made a terrible mistake. The sudden overwhelming feeling of wrongness washed over him and just then he was drowning, as if blanketed by a tide of unexpected and impenetrable grief, Dom continued to drive but just barely.

Within the span of three heartbeats, he swung the long black body of the Charger around, sparing just the faintest cursory glances at the road behind him and the narrow winding roll of tar-grey concrete and white lines ahead.

Dom couldn’t have described what he was feeling if he tried. The sudden pull of _now, now, now,_ leveraged his foot closer to the floor, starving to make up for the lost time and space. He did the quick math for how far ahead Brian would be and figured that he’d catch up in three minutes tops. These weren’t like the curves of Spain, streamlined and winding, heavenly constructed to only be handled by the most courageous as the Mediterranean waited below to welcome those who failed into its warm salty embrace. The roads here offered a little more forgiveness and the sea a calmer companion.

The fork lay ahead, meaning the tip of the rock wall was fast approaching him on his right, only the perfect intersection of speed, torque and momentum who carry him forward and around, drifting onto Brian’s path and not down the cliff if his instinct failed him.

Despite his anxiety, Dom’s mouth circled into a secretive smile. Why, because the best work, his included, was always done when no one was watching. So he breathed deeply, kicked his speed up and turned hard—two heartbeats later, he popped the break and felt the car jerk to a stop, then threw it off and floored it forward, taking Brian’s invisible path.

The words still didn’t find their way to his tongue. What to say when he caught up with Brian would be just as lost to him as when Brian asked if he’d planned to leave without saying goodbye. Dom figured if instinct was telling him to go after Brian, then he’d find the right words when he caught up.

They’d played this game too many times in their lives for Dom not to follow. The Charger sang a sultry vibrato as he lapped up the distance taking the path Brian had just moments before.

This was a road Dom had not traveled yet. The path alternated in a complex sinuous wave, shifting every couple of hundred feet to a new convex or concave arch; Dom held on, trying to anticipate the changes but seemed out of time.

This hadn’t been his path to take.

A flicker of a thought passed through is mind, a whispering urge to turn back against the pull forward. His lips pursed tighter and his teeth clicked in an angry snap, the only answer given to his own foolish mind.

But then—just ahead—he saw a dusty ledge, much like the one where he and Ramsey made their stand, and there, he found Brian.

Brian leaned against the hood, his lean body standing as a single pillar against the clear blue sky. Dom slowed to a crawl and eased out onto the rocky lip. Bringing the two cars close enough to worry either of them about scratching the paint if either of them so much a sneezed.

That synchronism which had always allowed them to balance harmony and melody behind the wheel had climaxed to this crescendo, bringing them side by side once again.

Speculating whether Brian had felt the same draw to stop and wait for Dom was a moot point; Brian was here now and from his lack of surprise at Dom’s arrival had been waiting for him.

Dom rose from the seat, exiting the car with an easy silence. He watched Brian watch the sea. His innate calm was at peace in this moment: beachside with the sun shining at his back, reinfusing him with a youth that had been whittled down after too many years on the road and too many friends lost. Dom superimposed this memory over the cocksure kid with an adrenaline drunk grin standing under the scrutiny of too many city lights, faces in a crowd, and lucky stars. The one who’d said, “I almost had you,” and meant it with complete sincerity and respect.

Those words that Dom needed to say were forming but still weren’t just quite _right_.

Instead, Brian started, shifting his gaze from the sea to Dom, “If you’d asked me five years ago where I’d be, I’d be lying if I said that I knew.”

Again, Dom had had the same thoughts. “I had only hoped that I would be free.” He replied. Brian had made it so not once or twice—at least three times, Brian had strayed from his path to keep Dom free to travel his.

Brian bobbed his head, agreeing. “I guess I don’t know what to say.” Brian looked to Dom then, regarded him openly and shrugged. “Just felt like I _had to_ stop. Just take a look around and finally see where I was. This is so far from Barstow that my head feels a little--” his finger curved in a whirling gesture, “—despite the crazy, I still remember every second of how I got here. And Dom?”

Dom answered, “Yeah?”

“I don’t regret a second of it.”

Brian had given him the push; now Dom had momentum for his words. “No one knows me the way you do. No else ever will. I’m still figuring you out and that’s okay; be the mystery man because I know you where it counts…Also it keeps things interesting which is another thing I like about you.”

Never one to accept much open praise, Brian downplayed Dom’s disclosure. “Don’t dig too deep—I’ve always been simple. All you ever need to know about me is that I’m happy. I’m lucky. I love my family and I’m loved by my family. That’s all that matters anyway, right?”

Family was everything and this man who had blown through his life was the glue that held it together.

They hadn’t had a problem speaking plainly in years. Maybe it had all changed before Jack was born, when it was finally cemented that they would be family no matter what. “Time is the one thing no one can beat. No matter how fast you drive. How far you go. Time will always win the race. I want you to know that our time hasn’t run out. Will never run out. We’re infinite, Brian.”

Neither would shy away from these confessions. As with everything else, they would plow through until they found their true end.

“I don’t know what we are.” Brian admitted, giving voice to the variable state of their relationship. “You’re right though: we aren’t over. But what _we are_ will continue to change. Sometimes, we’re brothers, but most times we’re not. Doesn’t matter either way what we are to each other. We’ll always be together.”

When they’d gone to get Mia back from Shaw, he’d looked to Brian and had uttered _ride or die_ which Brian had returned just as vehemently. Those words were a declaration of intent that were unbreakable at both extremes. “We take for granted how much time we have. Even when we realize it’s short, we don’t consider just how short, so let me not wait anymore--” Dom said, “I love you, Bri.”

“I love you, too, Dom.”

Love wasn’t always greeting cards and soft kisses. Sometimes love formed from sweat, blood, and the unrelenting certainty that being alone was no longer an option. What he felt for Brian maintained a space separate and unique from Mia, Letty, and the rest. Their bond was expansive and intangible and defied any attempts to be weighed or measured; it set its own standard and refused to be denied. These words were all that remained unresolved with Brian, and now finally set free, they’d made it to their destination.

Opening his arms wide, Brian didn’t hesitate to step into Dom’s embrace. He clutched Dom with a fierceness that demonstrated his deceptive strength and Dom savored the moment for the gift that it was: just him and Brian together, stronger than ever.

They continued to hug under the sunshine and the vacant road that stretched far and wide to infinite opportunities and the freedom to seize them all. A mutual decision was reached after uncounted minutes, again unspoken where they drew back. If Brian looked off to his right for a while as Dom looked down at the gleaming chrome of his grill while his eyes cleared neither made mention of it. There would always be a right time to give each other shit—here was only for unadulterated truth.

Dom could breathe again, because he’d gotten the words out. Because he had set the universe to rights by putting a definite label on what Brian meant to him and just how much he was gaining and losing with this next lap.

When he finally spoke, his voice was warm and humid like a summer storm. “Imma go back that way, okay. But I’ll see you later, alright.” Dom had no reason to say goodbye. He wouldn’t start now. Goodbyes were the period at the end of a sentence of interaction. Brian had already said they were far from over; Dom had no reason to doubt him yet.

The soft crunch of rock was the only sound as Dom strode around the nose of the Charger to reach the driver’s seat. Suddenly, Brian yelled, “Dom, wait!”

“Yeah, Bri?”Dom stopped the forward progress of the door to wait for Brian to catch him. Standing toe to toe like this, he almost expected Brian to hand him a set of keys. The thought telegraphed clearly across his face as Brian grinned broadly at him.

“Just remember--"Brian paused, still focusing that indelible grin on Dom, “—no matter the roads or the directions we take, we’ll always end up in the same place.”

“I know that, Bri.”

Brian waved him off after stepping back. “I’ll see you at home, Dom.”

Dom’s gaze shifted to the sunshine that silhouetted Brian in shades of light and shadow and said, “I’ll see you, too.”


End file.
